The Promise
by NalaStormhunter
Summary: Rona Stormchaser meets the Fironin that will take her in as his own Daughter, but will she ever come to accept him?


Warnings: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas, and Drogo, sadly also doesn't belong to me. He belongs to a friend who roleplays him in a Star Wars D20 game. Thanks Vick Skywalker.  
  
The door opened, and Rona cringed; she knew what that meant. The Imperials were coming to have their sick fun and games. The Imperials played games she didn't want to play, and while they kept promising her that if she did what they wanted her to, she would get to see her momma, they hadn't kept that promise yet. She slinked back into the corner, and waited for the inevitable. However, the silhouette was not one she would expect from an Imperial. In fact, it wasn't even one she would expect from a human.  
  
The figure she saw in the doorway was much taller than most of the men that would come to her, and his hair looked like it had been done up in dreadlocks. His clothes were much more looser than those of the Imperials, and his stance was far from military. Still, she slunk back deeper into the shadows. Rona wasn't stupid, and she knew that just cause the guy didn't look imperial, didn't mean he wasn't. She was so busy trying to hide from the new man that she didn't notice the woman who was with him until she was almost on top of her.  
  
Rona jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she would have screamed, if not for the fact that a firm yet gentle hand was placed over her mouth. Rona remained tensed until she heard a reassuring voice. "Rona, it's mommy. We're going to get out of here now, so I need you to be very quiet." Rona nodded as her mother nodded to the man who was waiting at doorway. As if on signal, the man moved over to them. She got a better look at him as he moved out of the light. He seemed to be a deep blue color with black eyes. The things she thought was dreadlocks were actually head tentacles. He reached for her, and she backed into her mother. She looked up at her. "Momma?"  
  
Aayela smiled gently at her. "Relax, Rona, this is Drogo. He and some of his friends have come here to rescue us. He's gonna carry you back to his ship."  
  
"Why can't you carry me?"  
  
"I don't have the strength, honey, or I would. Don't worry, Drogo won't let anything happen to you, will you."  
  
Drogo shook his head. "I would die first before I let anything happen to you. I swear on my honor as a Fironean."  
  
"What's a Fironean?"  
  
Drogo chuckled. "That's the name of my species, just like you're a Twi'lek."  
  
"Ah." Warily, she allowed the man to pick her up, and he ran out of the cell followed by Aayela. He had her flung across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. They hadn't been running very long when the first blaster bolts started flying past their heads. Rona, not quite used to being in the middle of a fire fight, squirmed in Drogo's grasp, trying find a place where she would not be in such a target.  
  
"Rona, please!" He said as he tried to wrestle a heavy blaster out its holster and hold onto the frightened girl. "I can't shoot them if you move around so much. I can tell you now, they won't hurt you. I won't let them!"  
  
Rona was too scared to listen. She was only six years old, and she wanted to live to be seven. She looked back at her mother, and called out to her. "Hurry, Momma, hurry!" Aayela turned when her daughter called out, and a stray blaster bolt hit her in the back. Rona screamed in terror as the only person in the world who she knew cared about her fell to the deck. "MOMMA!"  
  
Drogo turned, and swore under his breath. He ducked into an alcove, and gently put Rona down. "Keep quiet, and don't move. I've gotta go help your mother right now, but I will be back for you. I promise." He handed her a commlink. "If anything goes wrong, and I can't come back to help you, I'll call you on this. Then you run. Enter the code 11387542. That's the code to my friends. They'll find you and get you out of here. Hopefully it won't come to that. If it does, then I doubt very seriously if any of us will get out of here alive." As he turned he pulled out his own commlink and shouted into his comm., "Send reinforcements, Aayela is down, I repeat, Aayela is down!"  
  
Rona hunkered down in the alcove, and prayed that no one would find her. She sat in the back, legs pulled up to her chest, and she waited. She waited for what seemed an eternity when.  
  
"Sir, I've found the kid." The stormtrooper's armor gleamed in the light of the hallway. He reached down and picked her up by her head-tails. She screeched in pain, and glared up at the trooper. Suddenly the trooper made a funny noise as he was hit by blue waves of energy. She looked up to see where that bolt had come from just as another hit her. As she felt herself slipping away into darkness, she saw the Fironean that had been carrying her come over to her, then the world went black, and she knew no more.  
  
Drogo watched in horror as the little Twi'lek girl fell to the ground. He handed Aayela to one of his friends, and ran over to her. When he reached her, he glared over at the man who had shot her. "Fool! She's just a child. That stun was at maximum!"  
  
"Sorry, sir, it was an accident. I hit the trigger again before I could think."  
  
"You seem to do a lot of that, lately." Drogo knew the mechanic was a good person, and a good soldier, if a little rash, but he was very upset. "You of all people should know that a stun setting can be dangerous set too high, and children are very delicate!" He checked over the daughter of the famous Jedi he had been sent to save. They needed all the Jedi on their side, if at all possible, or the rebellion was doomed, and now that might be in danger. Aayela was the last Jedi alive that they knew of, and if they did not get her to the base, she would not survive. He had a feeling that those Force-sensitive were not going to be enough. Still, he knew that the girl beside him was also strong in the Force, possibly stronger than her mother. The little one may end up being the last hope for her. He sighed. "You're lucky, Ma'ner. She's alive, simply knocked out."  
  
Ma'ner also sighed. "Good, I was afraid I might have doomed the entire mission. If this Jedi doesn't survive, we might have to wing it with those like you and that little girl."  
  
"This little girl doesn't even realize the potential she has. Her mother kept it hidden from her. You have to remember, she was born at the time that the Great Purge began."  
  
"You seem to know a lot about them, why is that Drogo?" Maligna, the Duros he had handed Aayela to.  
  
"I always learn what there is about those whose help I am about to ask for. Besides, Jedi lore intrigues me." He said as he picked up the tiny Twi'lek, and cradled her in his arms. "Besides, I asked her some questions when I broke her out of her holding cell. She told me not to let Rona know about her. It was safer for them both that way."  
  
Maligna nodded. "Well, if we keep standing here, they're going to find us again, and then this will all have been for nothing."  
  
"Right, let's go." They ran back to their ship as fast as they could. There were no further run-ins with imperials, which worried the rebels, but they said nothing, until they were out of the system. Then Drogo ordered a complete sweep of the ship. There was no way they were going to let them go that easy. "Make a micro-jump, then we'll stop for a bit to check this bucket of bolts." He took the girl, and placed her in his quarters. Then he went back to Ma'ner, who was trying in vain to save Aayela.  
  
When Drogo walked in, Ma'ner looked at him, and shook his head. "There's nothing I can do for her, Dro, I'm afraid she's not going to make it to the base."  
  
Drogo kneeled beside the once proud Jedi, and she opened her eyes. "You seem sad, why?"  
  
"My job was to bring you and the girl back safely to our base." He shook his head, choking back the tears. "I've failed."  
  
"You haven't failed. My daughter, she's still alive, right?" Drogo nodded. "Then you have the one that matters. She's much stronger in the Force than I am. Someday, one will arise to train her in the ways of the Jedi, Sir Drogo. All you have to do for me is keep her safe for me. I can't be there for her, but you can."  
  
"No, you can't. She needs you, Aayela. Besides, I'm just a soldier; I don't know the first thing about raising a little girl."  
  
"Sir Drogo, let me let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows how to raise children. You muddle through the best you can, and somehow, if you show them enough love and discipline, they come out better than anyone would have expected. Besides, do you think I knew the first thing about taking care of a child when she came to me?"  
  
"Came to you?" Drogo looked confused. "you mean you aren't her real mother?"  
  
She nodded. "She was left in an alleyway, wrapped in blankets, on Tatooine. I took it upon myself to take her in and care for her. Now it's your turn. You will make a fine father to her."  
  
"Father?! I'm only twenty. There has got to be someone else who would better off taking care of a child!"  
  
"I happen to pride myself on being a good judge of character. Please, Sir Drogo, your people are known for being a very honorable race. Promise me that you will take care of her for me." Aayela's breathing was becoming shallow. "Please, Sir Drogo, I do not have much time left."  
  
He nodded. "I promise you, Lady Jedi, that I will raise Rona as if she were my own."  
  
Aayela nodded, and took her last breath. Drogo was still holding her when her body vanished in a blue mist. He turned to Ma'ner. "How do I let myself get talked into these things? I don't know the first thing about raising a kid. Besides, what kind of life is she gonna have, being raised by a soldier for the Rebellion?"  
  
"A lot better life than she's had. Relax, Dro. You'll do fine, especially if you can tell her about her mother."  
  
"Shit, that's right. How do you tell a six year old that her mother is gone?"  
  
"Very carefully." Ma'ner said. "I need to go up to the cockpit. Good Luck."  
  
Drogo glared after his friend. Then he walked to his quarters, all the while thinking how to tell Rona. The door slid open, and he walked in. The little one was still sleeping quietly on his bed. He sat down next to her, and just watched as she laid there sleeping. He shook his head. He wasn't the one raise her. She deserved a nice quiet life, with friends her own age to play with, with no worries about the war they were trying to wage. This way, there would be no time for her to have a childhood. She murmured something, and rolled over to face him. Her face looked so serene, and he remembered something his mother said about children looking like angels when they sleep. He pulled a blanket over her, and let her sleep. 


End file.
